TECHNICAL LIBRARY

Featuring more than 1,000 searchable technical papers, business features, country commentaries and fashion articles from editions of World Leather going back to 2002. The papers are categorised into nine topics to make the library easy to navigate.

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Technical Articles

TANNERY OF THE YEAR

97 Items Found

PrimeAsia Vietnam Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, VietnamPrimeAsia Vietnam, one of two
tanneries the leather manufacturing
group operates today, is in a strategic
part of the footwear-making world.
With some of those companies now
starting to increase the volume of
leather they want to use, expansion at
the tannery and advancements in its
use of efficient, safe and innovative
tanning technology are ongoing.

World Leather - Oct/Nov 2019

PrimeAsia Vietnam Technical reportFresh from completing an expansion project in March this year, PrimeAsia wants the capacity at its tannery in southern Vietnam to keep growing to meet the needs of its athletic and casual footwear customers.

World Leather - Oct/Nov 2019

Country Commentary: Innovative companies can lead the wayVietnam is likely to remain one of the
fastest-growing economies in Asia.
China’s transition to a buy-not-make
economy, with increasing labour costs,
has been tempting manufacturers across
the border for a number of years. If
Vietnam is to make its own transition to
a middle-income country by 2030 and a
high-income country by 2045, companies
that are willing to adopt innovative
technology will be key.

World Leather - Oct/Nov 2019

Country Commentary: Complexities of the Chinese marketIn the first part of our Country Commentary for China, World Leather June-July, we
analysed the impact on the country’s wider economy of its ongoing trade dispute with
the US. Part two examines more closely the impact of the current economic situation
on industries that are extensive users of leather.

World Leather - Aug/Sept 2019

Jinan Luri Junda Leather, Technical reportSpecialist cow split producer Junda Leather has found ways to keep valuable manufacturing jobs in the rural environment of Shuangquan in Shandong Province, while building strong ties with two of China’s leading universities for leather science and engineering.

Country Commentary: What months of mistrust could meanTrade tensions have been building up
between China and the US since the start
of 2018. A resolution appeared to be
within reach in the early part of this
year, but May and June 2019 have been
among the most turbulent months in the
dispute so far and most of the optimism
has faded.

World Leather - Jun/July 2019

Peter Geng Double Face CompanyAfter years of working for large
double-face leather manufacturing
companies in Hebei Province, Peter
Geng set up his own tannery in 2008.
Through hard work and deep
knowledge of the specialist raw
materials double-face requires, he has
now built up a strong reputation for
quality, service and innovation.

World Leather - Jun/July 2019

2018 global winner in expansion modeA year ago, Interhides Limited was on top of the world, having won the global award in the sixth
Tannery of the Year programme. Far from resting on its laurels, the Thai leather manufacturer has
invested in a new building, new machinery and a new idea for succeeding as a supplier of wet
blue and wet white of consistently high quality. It’s an idea that’s been tried before, but not like this.

Country Commentary: Leather in a cold climateRussia today has a relatively small
number of tanneries for such a large
country, with 20 leather manufacturers
in operation. However, demand from the
domestic market, owing to Russia’s large
population and savagely diverse climatic
and geographical conditions, as well as
an eye for greater exports, are giving
grounds for optimism.

World Leather - Dec/Jan 2018

TOTY - Russkaya Kozha Ryazan, RussiaRussia’s biggest tannery has a history
spanning more than 100 years and, as it
expands its target markets beyond the
domestic arena and beyond footwear, is
investing heavily in new technology to
create a bright future.

World Leather - Dec/Jan 2018

TOTY - Buyer’s View: Russkaya Kozha and UnichelThe Russian footwear group insists that it
will not compromise on the quality of its
shoes in the face of what it calls “unfair
competition from counterfeit products”.
Instead, it intends to put more emphasis
than ever on authenticity, which means
investing heavily in leather from
suppliers such as Russkaya Kozha.

World Leather - Dec/Jan 2018

IHL’s commitment to partnership helps secure the big prizeThai tanning group Interhides Public
Company Limited (IHL) is the global winner
of Tannery of the Year for 2018. This article
explains what it is about the company that
helped it stand out for the judging panel
and gives IHL’s reaction to the result.

World Leather - Apr/May 2018

Talented Turkey seeks a fair price for its leatherCountry Commentary: Experts on the Turkish leather sector
argue that technicians and craftspeople
there have shown for years how able and
creative they can be in making highquality
leather and finished products.
This report suggests that if companies in
Turkey can sustain their businesses by
securing a half-decent price for lowergrade
material, their better-quality
products can fly high in the most
demanding luxury markets.

World Leather - Feb/Mar 2018

Sepiciler Torbali, Izmir, TurkeyPioneering work over its 90-year history
and ongoing commitment to environmental
and social responsibility helped Turkish
tanning group Sepiciler become Tannery of
the Year for Europe in 2013. A series of
deeply significant developments since then,
with more to come, have brought the
company to the attention of the Awards
programme once again.

World Leather - Feb/Mar 2018

China’s role as a consumer of leatherWith two Chinese tanneries taking part in the sixth programme of Tannery of the Year, we are keeping up the tradition of aligning our country commentaries with the tannery reports by dividing the China country commentary into two parts. In the first part, we examined the country’s current status as a manufacturer of leather and leather products. In this follow-up we look at China as a consumer of leather and finished products that contain leather.

Country Commentary: China’s role as a producer of leatherWith two Chinese tanneries taking part in the sixth programme of Tannery of the Year, we will keep up the tradition of aligning our country commentaries with the tannery reports by dividing the China country commentary into two parts. In this first part, we examine the country’s current status as a manufacturer of leather and leather products. We will follow up in the December-January issue with part two of the country commentary, looking at China as a consumer of leather and finished products that contain leather.

World Leather - Oct/Nov 2017

Tongtianxing Group, Quzhou, Zhejiang province, ChinaOne of the largest producers of furniture leather in the world, Tongtianxing (TTX) is proud of its ability to keep coming up with new ideas to help its customers. But it also knows that working closely with chemical and machinery suppliers is of huge importance in allowing it to continue to innovate and keep its leather collections fresh.

World Leather - Oct/Nov 2017

GST AutoLeather, MexicoAutomotive leather supplier GST has had a presence in Mexico for almost 25 years and, for almost the last 15 years, has concentrated all its North American production at three different sites there. Together, these facilities constitute an efficient and effective automotive leather supply chain, and at the same time there is something special about the way it treats its people, as this report makes clear.

World Leather - Aug/Sept 2017

Buyer’s view: GST and YistiA?new foundation called Yisti?Society has found a way of putting to use scraps from GST Mexican cutting plants.

World Leather - Aug/Sept 2017

Country Commentary: A changing environment for footwearThere are plenty of challenges ahead for Mexico’s footwear industry, ranging from competition for leather from the automotive sector to a fluid environment across the border in the US, which can have an effect on everything from production costs to consumer buying habits in the domestic market. Nevertheless, the president of CICEG, the main footwear industry association in the state of Guanajuato, Luis Gerardo González García, is looking forward to addressing all of these issues.

World Leather - Aug/Sept 2017

Leather Industries of Uganda Jinja, UgandaA decade ago, Leather Industries of Uganda faced a real threat of closure because of inadequate environmental management. After a complete overhaul and substantial investment in people and technology, the facility now serves as a landmark for the leather industry in Uganda, in East Africa and, perhaps, across the whole of the continent. It now describes itself as “a wastewater treatment plant with a tannery attached”.

World Leather - June/July 2017

Country Commentary: Uganda’s tanning industry pushes aheadLess than 20 years ago, practically all of Uganda’s hides and skins left the country in the raw state. Now nine tanneries are working hard to add value to this natural resource and are aiming to expand their operations in future and to be part of a thriving domestic leather sector.

World Leather - June/July 2017

Mississippi TanTec Leather Inc. Vicksburg, Mississippi, USDrums started turning at the ISA TanTec facility in Vicksburg, Mississippi, at the start of 2015, making it the first tannery to commence production in the US in 25 years. Working from wet blue, it retans and finishes hides from prominent US cattle-producing states and supplies finished leather mostly to footwear brands for whom ‘Made in the US’ has become an important part of commercial strategy.

World Leather - Apr/May 2017

Country Commentary US leather industry starts to grow backLeather Industries of America is one of the
country’s oldest trade associations. It’s
smaller now than in the days before
globalisation, when millions of US hides
began to flow overseas, but its president,
John Wittenborn, says the companies that
remain are strong and optimistic about
growing the industry back.

World Leather - Apr/May 2017

TOTY: Interhides Public Company LimitedTwo generations at Interhides Limited are
now working hand in hand to establish
strong partnerships with customers and
suppliers and to make this family-run
tannery, situated in one of Thailand’s
main leather manufacturing clusters, a
leader at home and internationally.

World Leather - Feb/Mar 2017

Country Commentary - Recipe for successThe president of the Thai Tanning Industry
Association, Pranee Kuruvelukorn, says
leather is like cooking, with each part of
the world having its preferred ingredients
and traditional ways of preparing things.
Thailand’s is a recipe for success, she says.

World Leather - Feb/Mar 2017

Buyer's View: Wolverine Leathers and Interhides Public Company LtdFor a customer’s perspective of Tannery
of the Year finalist Interhides Public
Company Limited, we talk to the leather
division of footwear group Wolverine
Worldwide, a long-time partner, but one
with new ideas that it is working on
with the Thai leather manufacturer.

World Leather - Feb/Mar 2017

A new approachTannery of the Year enters its sixth
programme with some important changes.

TOTY: Andrew Muirhead & Son Glasgow, ScotlandGlasgow-based tanner Andrew Muirhead
has seen great changes in the leather
industry and to its local environment in
its 175-year history, but it faces the
future with confidence, buoyed by a
determination to continue improving,
innovating and walking the same path
towards business excellence that it sees
its customers taking.

World Leather - Dec/Jan 2016

Regional Commentary - Stability in the face of uncertaintyOne of a series of challenges to the
established world order in 2016 was the
result of a referendum in the United
Kingdom in June, which means the
country will leave the European Union
after almost 45 years. Six months on
from the vote, the leather industry is
trying to maintain a business-as-usual
stance on the one hand while also
attempting to achieve clarity on what the
future will hold.

World Leather - Dec/Jan 2016

TOTY 2016: Innovation of the YearFor the third time, a component of the Tannery of the Year programme for 2016 was the
Innovation Award. As in previous editions of the competition all of the finalists have displayed
serious commitment to innovation. We chose two examples of this inventiveness for each of the
eight finalists and invited a special panel to choose the most outstanding example of all.

World Leather - Apr/May 2016

Tannery of the Year 2016: ResultsSocial projects helped clinch top prize for Couro do Norte: A family-run company from the far north of Brazil is building up a customer
base worldwide but is working hard to support deserving causes close to home.
This turned heads and won hearts at the 2016 Tannery of the Year Final.

World Leather - Apr/May 2016

Tannery of the Year: Kings International Ltd, Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, IndiaKings International Ltd started life in 1977 as a producer of finished leather products,
mostly saddles and other equestrian equipment. But 20 years ago it set up its own tannery
to guarantee the quality and quantity of leather it uses. It still consumes all the leather it
makes in-house (even trimmings and fleshings are converted into dog chews).

World Leather - Feb/Mar 2016

Tannery of the Year: White Nile Tannery, Khartoum, SudanAfter making a name for himself in footwear production in other parts of Africa, Lebanese
entrepreneur Dr Mohamad Rifai received an invitation to open a business in Sudan too.
There was plenty of local leather to work with, but he was dissatisfied with the quality and
decided to set up the White Nile tannery in Khartoum and make his own.

World Leather - Feb/Mar 2016

Tannery of the Year: ChinaThe fifth programme of Tannery of the Year has yielded a candidate list of 10
excellent tanneries for China, two of which have been selected as finalists. We featured
the report from Meihua Leather Company in the previous issue of World Leather.

World Leather - Dec/Jan 2015

Tannery of the Year: Zhejiang Dazhong Leather, Haining, Zhejiang provinceDazhong, located in China’s Leather City, Haining, claims to have a longer history than any tannery operating in the country today; it will celebrate 90 years since its foundation during 2016. It produces leather for shoes, automotive and furniture upholstery as well as gloves. It is optimistic about the future of the leather industry in China.

World Leather - Dec/Jan 2015

Tannery of the Year: Meihua Leather Company, Xinji, Hebei provinceA specialist in making double-face articles from sheepskins, Meihua Leather is a
leading light in the important tanning town of Xinji, helping the cluster rebuild its
reputation by investing in high-quality raw material, clean and thorough methods of
production and state-of-the-art environmental management.

World Leather - Oct/Nov 2015

Tannery of the Year: Couro do Norte, Belém, Pará, BrazilLocated in the northern Brazilian state of Pará, Couro do Norte grew out of a family-run wet-salted hides business. Around 15 years ago it began adding extra value to local hides by turning them into wet blue and wet white and has now built up a successful beamhouse operation with clients in Asia and Europe as well as in the Americas.

Tannery of the Year: Tärnsjö Garveri, SwedenThere are few tanneries left in Scandinavia. As one of those that remain, Tärnsjö Garveri in Sweden knows it must continue to offer “something unique” to claim its place in a global industry that now carries out almost all of its activity much further south.

World Leather - June/July 2015

Tannery of the Year: Atlantic Leather, Saudarkrokur, IcelandIt suits Atlantic Leather to have a small coastal town in the far north of Iceland as its base. Not only does it have easy access to clean, renewable energy and an abundance of water in this location, but also a plentiful supply of its most important raw material: fish skins.

World Leather - June/July 2015

Leading tanneries prove integral link in the automotive chainIt’s not easy to cope with the demands of car makers, which request high quality, flexibility
and large volumes at competitive costs, but tanners work hard to stay one step ahead by
using innovative techniques and developing more effective working methods.

World Leather - Feb/Mar 2015

A question of trustCustomers of Wollsdorf Leather in Austria know that the material they source from the
fourth global Tannery of the Year winner will not be the lowest price in the market, but
they believe they can trust the company to keep innovating, keep building strong
partnerships and keep offering high quality products that meet their requirements.

World Leather - Oct/Nov 2014

Innovation of the YearFor the second time, a component of the Tannery of the Year programme for 2014 was the
Innovation Award. As in previous editions of the competition all of the finalists have displayed
serious commitment to innovation. Two examples of this inventiveness was chosen from each of
the nine finalists and a special panel was invited to choose the most outstanding example of all.

World Leather - Oct/Nov 2014

Judging panel - TOTY 2014Judges for the Tannery of the Year Awards 2014 were
kind enough to give up their time in the build-up to
the final in Shanghai in September to read all nine
detailed reports, as published over the last year in World
Leather, and, on the day of the final, to hear presentations
from each tannery.

Tannery of the Year: AfricaThe fourth programme of Tannery of the Year has yielded a candidate list of six excellent tanneries for Africa.

World Leather - Aug/Sept 2014

Tannery of the Year finalist: Henan Prosper, Henan ProvinceSpecialist sheepskin tannery Henan Prosper has ambitions to be one of the biggest and most
successful producers in the world of leather from this raw material. Beyond that, it is manufacturing
and bringing to market a wide range of footwear under various own-brand names some of which
it hopes to float on the stock market within five years. The company insists it will survive and thrive
after the major changes to the Chinese tanning industry that have begun in 2014.

World Leather - June/July 2014

Tannery of the Year: ChinaThe fourth programme of Tannery of the Year has yielded a candidate list of
ten excellent tanneries for China.

Tannery of the Year: Bojos Tanning, Santiago, Dominican RepublicBojos Tanning is a company that can trace its history back for almost a century, but perhaps the most dramatic event in that 100 years occurred in 2007 when flood waters wiped out the business completely. The Bojos company could have walked away, but decided to stay and fight for its future instead.

Tannery of the Year: JBS Couros, Itumbiara, Goiás, BrazilSix years ago, JBS had no tanneries: now it’s the largest producer of leather in the world. This achievement has come about through acquisitions, and then through careful planning, restructuring and investment in innovation. The tannery at Itumbiara is one of the clearest examples of the speed and the scope of the progress that the group’s leather division, JBS Couros, has made.

World Leather - Apr/May 2014

Tannery of the Year finalist: Packer Leather, AustraliaAt one time, in the area around Brisbane, there were dozens of tanneries. Packer Leather, the only one still tanning, has survived through determination and its ability to move with the times, from sheepskin in its early days to its position now as one of the few tanneries in the world that can meet sports and outdoor footwear brands’ demands for kangaroo leather.

World Leather - Feb/Mar 2014

Tannery of the Year finalist: Saigon Tan Tec, VietnamFor years, tanning industry entrepreneur Thomas Schneider dreamed of building his ideal tannery from scratch. When a plot of land became available just north of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, he took the chance to turn his dream into reality

World Leather - Feb/Mar 2014

Tannery of the Year finalist: Couro Azul, Alcanena, PortugalFamily-owned and -run, Couro Azul is part of the Carvalhos Group of tanneries, based in Alcanena, Portugal’s main leather industry hub. Its main focus is automotive leather, with steering-wheel leather its specialism, but it aims to expand more and more into upholstery leather for cars, aircraft and for other forms of transport seating.

Real tanneries, real lifeThe fourth Tannery of the Year Global Awards programme is about to start; the first of the new reports will appear in the next issue of World Leather (December 2013-January 2014). During the first three editions, we have had the privilege of seeing at very close hand the life and work of the 29 finalist tanneries in all parts of the world. This paper highlights just one example from each of their many initiatives showing corporate social responsibility (CSR) in action.

World Leather - Oct/Nov 2013

PrimeAsia China picks up global awardA move towards making improvements internally at PrimeAsia China on measuring the “resource-heaviness” of its leather has begun to make a wider impact on the global leather industry. The 2013 Tannery of the Year competition has recognised the example the company is setting and acknowledged its commitment to doing things well.

World Leather - Apr/May 2013

Tannery of the Year finalist: Royal Leather, PakistanRoyal Leather Industries, which processes goat and sheepskins and cow and buffalo hides from raw to finished leather is a long-term supplier to major furniture group Ikea. The lessons it has learned from working with the Swedish group have helped it meet the demands of customers in the footwear, garment and leathergoods sectors too.

World Leather - Feb/Mar 2013

Tannery of the Year finalist: Midori Hokuyo, JapanThe Midori Hokuyo tannery in Yamagata is the only remaining automotive tannery in the home of automotive supply chain excellence. It aims to prove that many of the quality and continuous improvement initiatives to have come out of automotive manufacturing can work well in the production of leather.

Tannery of the Year finalist: PrimeAsia ChinaPart of the network of tanneries that PrimeAsia runs, the facility in Huangjiang in southern China is a long-serving supplier to many of the footwear industry’s household names. More recently, it pioneered a way of calculating the carbon footprint of its leather.

World Leather - Oct/Nov 2012

Tannery of the Year Americas 2012: NominationsThe 2012–2013 edition of Tannery of the Year competition is under way and in this issue we look at the Americas. There were 11 shortlisted tanneries from which two finalists have emerged.

World Leather - Aug/Sep 2012

Tannery of the Year finalist: Lefarc – Leon, MexicoRun by a fourth-generation Leon tanning family, Lefarc is committed to providing quality finished leather from quality raw materials to meet the needs of demanding footwear and leathergoods brands in Mexico and beyond.

Tannery of the Year finalist: Gruppo Dani, Arzignano, ItalyAs one of the biggest and longest established full-service tanneries in the northern Italian cluster of Arzignano, Gruppo Dani has grown into the role of an ambitious and pioneering company, determined to uphold the quality of ‘Made in Italy’ while making continuous progress in sustainability and in communicating openly with the outside world.

World Leather - June/July 2012

Third Tannery of the Year programme kicks offNow in its third edition, Tannery of the Year, the industry’s platform for celebrating its best examples of excellence in corporate social responsibility, has more momentum behind it than ever.

Tannery of the Year 2011: Cool judgementThe ten finalist tanneries were judged on their technical ability, environmental programmes, social responsibility, sustainability, investment, and relationships with customers.

World Leather - Oct/Nov 2011

Tannery of the Year 2011: ReviewAlmost a year’s intensive analysis of a select group of the best tanneries in the world reached its climax in Shanghai on September 6 at the final judging and Gala Dinner for Tannery of the Year 2011, the global leather industry’s most glamorous and high-profile awards programme.

World Leather - Oct/Nov 2011

Innovation Part 1: Recycling and regenerationTwenty world standard tanneries have opened their doors for in-depth study as part of Tannery of the Year Awards 2009 and 2011. Considerable technical information has been published in World Leather following these visits, and there has been an emphasis on environmental aspects. This article is the first in a series that picks out some of the highlights from the innovation stories these top tanneries have shared with us.

Tannery of the Year finalist: Nakara, Windhoek, NamibiaWhen you operate the only full-service tannery in a country like Namibia, you have to be prepared to work with a wide variety of material. Windhoek-based Nakara has built up a reputation for being able to tackle just about anything.

Tannery of the Year finalist: PT Budi Makmur, Yogyakarta, IndonesiaFounded in the city of Yogyakarta in 1966, PT Budi Makmur is devoted to tanning small skins (goat and sheep) for gloving and shoe upper leather. The company’s remoteness from the bulk of the global leather industry has made it especially creative and resourceful in the way it runs its tanning operation.

World Leather - Feb/Mar 2011

Tannery of the Year finalist: TehChang Leather Products, Taoyuan, TaiwanThe TehChang tannery in northern Taiwan believes it has the knowledge and the ability to provide a bridge between leather production in Asia and leather consumption in North America and Europe. It is also positioning itself to be an important supplier to consumer brands that want to focus on the domestic Chinese market.

World Leather - Feb/Mar 2011

Tannery of the Year: Hulshof, Lichtenvoorde, The NetherlandsHulshof Royal Dutch Tanneries has been based in Lichtenvoorde in the east of the Netherlands since the
middle of the nineteenth century. It operates from a busy residential part of the town but has won
acceptance from its neighbours thanks in part to its innovative approach to environmental management.

World Leather - Dec/Jan 2010

Tannery of the Year: Heller-Leder, Hehlen, GermanyAutomotive and furniture upholstery leather specialist Heller-Leder has
been a prominent presence in the quiet Lower Saxony town of Hehlen
for 90 years. Its commitment to keeping all aspects of production on its
home turf is as strong as ever.

Tannery of the Year Awards goes far beyond benchmarkingA review of the first Tannery of the Year Awards Programme, offering a recap of what the initiative stands for, what the criteria are for tanneries across the world to become finalists and an extensive report of the first Gala Dinner in Hong Kong on March 29 at which the winners of the 2009 competition were announced.

World Leather - Apr/May 2010

Tannery of the Year: Tata International Leather Business Unit, Dewas, Madhya Pradesh, IndiaThe tannery in the town of Dewas, in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, is a core component of the leather business unit of Tata International, part of the Tata Group, the largest private-sector firm in India. The tannery is a large-scale operation, sourcing 150,000 square-feet of raw material every day and producing three million square-feet of finished leather every month for prominent footwear, leathergoods and garment brands around the world. The facility was the first tannery in India to earn the right to put the country’s Eco-Mark label on its leather and, with a strong commitment to empowering the workforce there, Tata International is confident the site can continue to make an important impact on the whole community in and around Dewas for many years to come.

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